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Palestinian Trade Union Coalition for BDS formed at historic conference

By Palestinian Trade Union Coalition for BDS (PTUC-BDS)

In commemoration of the
International Workers’ Day, the Palestinian trade union movement holds
its first BDS conference and announces the formation of the Palestinian Trade Union Coalition for BDS (PTUC-BDS).

* * *

Statement of principles and call for international trade union support for BDS

Occupied Palestine, May 4, 2011 – BDS Movement – In
commemoration of the first of May – a day of workers struggle and
international solidarity – the first Palestinian trade union conference
for boycotts, divestment and sanctions against Israel (BDS) was held in
Ramallah on 30 April 2011, organised by almost the entirety of the
Palestinian trade union movement, including federations, professional
unions, and trade union blocks representing the entire spectrum of
Palestinian political parties.

The conference marked a historic event:
the formation of the Palestinian Trade Union Coalition for BDS (PTUC-BDS) as the largest coalition of the Palestinian trade union movement. PTUC-BDS will provide the most representative Palestinian
reference for international trade unions, promoting their support for
and endorsement of the BDS call, launched by Palestinian civil society
in 2005, guided by the guidelines and principles adopted by the Boycott,
Divestment and Sanctions National Committee (BNC), of which PTUC-BDS
has become a key component.

The global trade union movement has always played a key and inspiring
role in its courageous commitment to human rights and adoption of
concrete, ground-breaking, labour-led sanctions against oppressive
regimes in a show of solidarity with oppressed peoples around the world.
The trade union boycott of apartheid South Africa stands out as a
bright example of this tradition of effective solidarity. Trade unions
today are taking the lead in defending the Palestinian people’s right to
self-determination, justice, freedom, equality and the right of return
of our refugees as stipulated in United Nations General Assembly
Resolution 194. Many of them have heeded the call from Palestinian civil
society, and its labor movement in particular, to adopt BDS as the most
effective form of solidarity with the Palestinians in our struggle to
end Israeli occupation and apartheid.

Ending Israel’s multi-tiered system of oppression against the
Palestinian people — comprising occupation, colonialism and apartheid —
has become a test for humanity. For decades, Israel has enjoyed impunity
while continuing its gradual ethnic cleansing of Palestinians,
particularly in occupied East Jerusalem, the Jordan Valley and the Naqab
(Negev) desert; its 44-year-old occupation; its theft of land and
natural resources; its colonisation and construction of illegal colonial
settlements and walls, its siege of Gaza; its relentless denial of
refugee rights; its endless wars of aggressions and incarceration of
political prisoners; and its wanton killings of civilians and demolition
of infrastructure. Israel’s systematic destruction of the Palestinian
economy, expropriation of the most fertile agricultural land, as well as
humiliation of and racist discrimination against Palestinian workers
have all become part of its apartheid reality that should never be
tolerated by the world today.

Given the complete failure and unwillingness of hegemonic powers to
hold Israel accountable to international law, it is up to people of
conscience and international civil society, especially the trade union
movement, to take concrete action to end international collusion with
decades of violations of international law and human rights by Israel,
its institutions and international corporations.

The support of the entirety of the Palestinian trade union
movement for a full boycott of Israel,[1] as the most effective form of
solidarity with the Palestinian people, was the overarching message of
this historic gathering.

The conference was honoured to welcome Joâo Felicio, international relations secretary of CUT, the Brazilian trade union representing more
than 20 million workers, who expressed solidarity with the Palestinian
people and their legitimate rights, and reiterated CUT’s endorsement of
BDS. The conference received numerous messages of solidarity from a
large number of trade union federations, including the International
Federation of Arab Trade Unions, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) , Irish Congress of Trade Uinions (ICTU)
and a large number of individual trade unions in Canada, Scotland,
Italy, France, Spain, Turkey, Australia, USA and other countries. All
major Palestinian political parties also enthusiastically supported the
conference and the formation of PTUC-BDS.

The conference decisively condemned the Histadrut and called on
international trade unions to sever all links with it due to its
historic and current complicity in Israel’s violations of international
law and Palestinian rights. The Histadrut has always played a key role
in perpetuating Israel’s occupation, colonization and system of racial
discrimination by:

Publicly supporting Israel’s violations of the Fourth Geneva Convention and other tenets of international law.

Allowing Jewish settlers in the occupied West Bank to join the organisation.[3]

Supporting Israel’s war of aggression on besieged Gaza in
2008/9;[4] it has later justified Israel’s massacre of humanitarian
relief workers and activists aboard the Freedom Flotilla on 31 May
2010.[5]

Illegally withholding over NIS 8.3 billion (approximately $2.43bn)
over decades of occupation from wages earned by Palestinian workers
from the Occupied Palestinian Territory,[6] deducted for "social
and other trade union benefits" that Palestinian laborers from the
OPT have never received.

Recalling the trade union maxim “an injury to one is an injury to
all”, and given the global trade union movement’s historic role in
effective international solidarity with oppressed peoples around the
world, PTUC-BDS:

Cordially salutes all global trade unions for their solidarity with
the Palestinian people, especially those that have endorsed BDS against
Israel.

Calls on trade unions around the world to actively show solidarity
with the Palestinian people by implementing creative and
context-sensitive BDS campaigns as the most effective way to end Israeli
impunity. For example by:

boycotting Israeli and international companies (such as Elbit,
Agrexco, Veolia, Alstom, Caterpillar, Northrop Grumman, etc.) and
institutions that are complicit with Israel’s occupation and violations
of international law,

reviewing pension fund investments with the purpose of divesting
from Israel Bonds and all Israeli and international companies and
institutions complicit in Israel’s occupation, colonisation and
apartheid,

pressuring governments to suspend free trade agreements, end arms
trade and military relations with Israel with the intention of
eventually cutting all diplomatic ties with it,

Calls on port workers around the world to boycott loading/offloading
Israeli ships, similar to the heroic step taken by port workers around
the world in suspending maritime trade with South Africa in protest
against the apartheid regime, and

Calls on trade unions around the world to review and sever all ties with the Histadrut.

Such non-violent measures of accountability must continue until
Israel fulfils its obligations under international law in acknowledging
the Palestinian people’s inalienable right to self-determination, and
fully complies with international law by:

ending its occupation and colonization of all Arab lands occupied
since 1967 (including East Jerusalem), as well as dismantling of the
illegal wall and colonies,

recognising the fundamental right of the Palestinian citizens of
Israel to full equity, as well as ending the system of racial
discrimination against them, and

respecting, protecting and supporting the rights of Palestinian
refugees to return to their homes and properties as stipulated in UNGA
Resolution 194.

The Palestinian Trade Union Coalition for BDS (PTUC-BDS) is the
broadest and most representative body of the Palestinian trade union
movement and includes the following organisations: General Union of
Palestinian Workers, Federation of Independent Trade Unions (IFU),
General Union of Palestinian Women, Union of Palestinian Professional Associations (comprising the professional syndicates of Engineers, Physicians, Pharmacists, Agricultural Engineers, Lawyers, Dentists and Veterinarians),
General Union of Palestinian Teachers, General Union of Palestinian
Peasants and Co-ops, General Union of Palestinian Writers, Union of
Palestinian Farmers, Palestinian Federation of Unions of University
Professors and Employees (PFUUPE), Union of Public Employees in
Palestine-Civil Sector; and all of the trade union blocks that make up the Palestine General Federation of Trade Unions (PGFTU): Central Office for the Workers Movement, Progressive Labor Union Front, Workers Unity block, Progressive Workers Block, Workers solidarity organization, Workers
Struggle Block, workers resistance block, Workers Liberation Front,
Union of Palestinian Workers Struggle Committees, National Initiative
(al-Mubadara) Block.

The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) conveys salutations to the Palestinian Trade Union Coalition for BDS for successful launch at a Conference held in Ramallah, Palestine on the eve of May day

COSATU conveys fraternal greetings and salutations to the workers and people of Palestine for their successful hosting of the historic All-Palestinian Trade unions BDS conference in Ramallah, Palestine on the eve of May Day, 2011.

The conference was organised by the Palestinian Trade Union Coalition for BDS. It resulted in the formation of the Palestinian Trade Union Coalition for BDS (PTUC-BDS), which seeks to provide the most representative Palestinian reference for international trade unions in pursuit of the BDS campaign. It follows on the great achievements of the Palestinian civil society call made in 2005, which was anchored in the BDS National Committee principles and guidelines.

We also salute the message of solidarity from our sister federation and trusted ally, CUT of Brazil, which represents more than 20 million workers. It was delivered at the conference by Comrade Joâo Felicio, who is the head of international relations in CUT. He reiterated CUT’s full endorsement of BDS. The numerous messages of support from all over the world, including from COSATU, inspired the conference and confirmed the global popularity and growing momentum of the BDS movement world-wide.

The outcomes of the conference exposed and proved as untrue the myth and lie that trade unions do not support BDS, instead it confirmed that genuine and progressive trade unions all over the world fully support the cause of the Palestinian people, except those who are held hostage by their ruling class interests and whose foreign policies are determined by their national elites and therefore support the immoral and illegal occupation of Palestine by the apartheid state of Israel.

More profoundly, the conference declared that, “Ending Israel’s multi-tiered system of oppression against the Palestinian people -- comprising occupation, colonialism and apartheid -- has become a test for humanity. For decades, Israel has enjoyed impunity while continuing its gradual ethnic cleansing of Palestinians, particularly in occupied East Jerusalem, the Jordan Valley and the Naqab (Negev) desert; its 44-year-old occupation; its theft of land and natural resources, its colonisation and construction of illegal colonial settlements and walls, its siege of Gaza; its relentless denial of refugee rights; its endless wars of aggressions and incarceration of political prisoners; and its wanton killings of civilians and demolition of infrastructure. Israel’s systematic destruction of the Palestinian economy, expropriation of the most fertile agricultural land, as well as humiliation of and racist discrimination against Palestinian workers have all become part of its apartheid reality that should never be tolerated by the world today.”

It went on to say,”The support of the entirety of the Palestinian trade union movement for a full boycott of Israel, as the most effective form of solidarity with the Palestinian people, was the overarching message of this historic gathering”.

Finally, the conference made the following very bold statement:

“Conference decisively condemned the Histadrut and called on international trade unions to sever all links with it due to its historic and current complicity in Israel’s violations of international law and Palestinian rights. The Histadrut has always played a key role in perpetuating Israel’s occupation, colonization and system of racial discrimination by:

1. Publicly supporting Israel’s violations of the Fourth Geneva Convention and other tenets of international law

3. Allowing Jewish settlers in the occupied West Bank to join the organisation

4. Supporting Israel’s war of aggression on besieged Gaza in 2008/9; it has later justified Israel’s massacre of humanitarian relief workers and activists aboard the Freedom Flotilla on 31 May 2010.

5. Illegally withholding over NIS 8.3 billion (approximately $2.43bn) over decades of occupation from wages earned by Palestinian workers from the Occupied Palestinian Territory, deducted for ‘social and other trade union benefits’ that Palestinian laborers from the OPT have never received.”

In our view, this represents a historically unprecedented momentum and monumental opportunity for the world to hold Israeli accountable for the practice of apartheid and occupation against the Palestinian people, to force the powerful countries that support and perpetuate apartheid occupation by Israel and to coordinate an unstoppable wave of workers and peoples for a new and free Palestine on a global scale. The UN Security Council, which is run by the rich minority of countries must be made to realise that the future of Palestine is in the hands of the world’s workers and people and not the Zionists and their friends in the US and EU governments.

It should be an inspiration to all workers and humanity that in the midst of the most armed monster in the form of Israel, there are men and women of honour who stand up to risk their lives for their country and future. It calls on all of us to do more and stand tall in the midst of threats, intimidation and bully tactics of Zionist friends all over the world, including in so-called progressive organisations, at times.